One of the success stories of the power and reach of citizen media in Africa is definitely The Nata Village Blog. It is a blog from Nata village in Botswana. Nata is a village of about 5000 people located on the edge of the Makgadikgadi Pans, the largest salt pan
in the world. The blog is a tool in the fight against the devastating
effects of HIV/AIDS in Nata village. It features people living with
AIDS, youth groups, clinic staff and social workers and give visitors
an inside look at how people live in an African village. It is also
used for fundraising.

Unfortunately, HIV/AIDS is having a devastating effect
on the people of this small village. Botswana has the second highest
HIV infection rate in Africa. The current rate of infection is 37%
nationally and Nata's rate of infection is even higher. The pandemic
has left Nata with over 400 orphans. Currently, nearly 50% of all
pregnant women in Nata are HIV positive. Thankfully, Botswana has free
Anti-Retroviral Therapy available for those with low CD4 (t-cell)
counts. We also have a Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission
program that has reduced the rate of infection from mother to child to
about 5%. This website is dedicated to the people of Nata who despite
enormous losses and challenges still have the courage and determination
to fight the ravages of this pandemic.

The Nata Blog was born as a result of a world traveler,
Jon Rawlinson, passing through Nata on the way to the Okavango Delta.
The tour books referred to Nata as nothing more than a dust hole and he
had no intention of spending any time there. But, as coincidence would
have it, he met a Peace Corps Volunteer named Melody Jenkins who is
working as an HIV/AIDS educator and community capacity builder. Jon was
interested in seeing more than the tourist destinations of Africa and
wanted to learn more about the impact of HIV/AIDS on Botswana. After
just one night of meeting the locals and hearing first hand accounts of
the struggle to control the spread of the disease, Jon was hooked and
wanted to help. He has since been back to Nata twice and has been
introduced to the Kgosi (chief) and most of the professionals working
to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS. Nata will benefit from the fact that
our world traveler is also a professional producer and editor as well
as a website designer. Jon and Melody worked on a documentary about
HIV/AIDS in Nata in hopes of bringing the story of Nata to the world.
Jon discovered an incredible village filled with the beautiful Mokolane
Palm trees lining the Nata River. Unlike most tourists, Jon wanted to
do more than just snap a few photos of elephants and giraffes and
return home. He wanted to make a difference and offered to design and
administer this website.
After much discussion and the frustration of donations going to large
organizations that rarely get to those that really need it, Jon and
Melody decided to try and help the people of Nata with this website

The posts on the blog are written by Melody Jenkins, a U.S. peace
corps volunteer, Martha Ramaditse, a native of Nata and Mr. Seloma
Tiro, the Chairman of the Nata AIDS and Orphan Trust which manages the
funds generated from this website.

This website would not have been possible without his
generosity. Since the inception of the website, Mr. Tiro has loaned
Martha and Melody his laptop computer for blogging, paid for all calls
to access the internet and allowed us to use his server. He has all but
turned over his own private office to us. At the birth of this website
there were only 3 people in the village with internet access. Mr. Tiro
became a co-founder of this website as it would not have been possible
without him. Mr. Tiro is a co-owner of the natavillage.org domain and
Nata village blog.

Back in January, we entered the Peace Corps Information
and Technology Contest. We learned in June that we were one of 9
finalists. It was just announced that we are one of the top three
winners named in the contest. The three winners will be featured in the
December issue of Worldview Magazine and the projects will be featured
in Peace Corps internal and external publications. We've been told that
we will also be featured in the Peace Corps Times. We want to
congratulate the other winners Heidi Joseph in Zambia and Nicholas
Cabiati and Daniel Schier in Senegal. We think it's pretty cool that
all three winners are working on the African continent. It just shows
that technology is available here and growing everyday. Thanks to
Anthony Bloome of Peace Corps for organizing the contest along with all
the judges. We need to once again thank Jon Rawlinson of Canada for his
gift of this website to Nata village and Mr. Seloma Tiro for his
continued financial support of this project. We also want to thank our
chief Kgosi Makgesi for taking a chance and allowing his village to be
the first in Botswana with a website.

As a result of winning the Peace Corps ICT Contest, the Nata Village Blog got a scholarship
to attend the Global Conference on ICT and Youth for Development in
Geneva, Switzerland. The conference was organized by The Global
Alliance for ICT and Development (GAID) and the International
Telecommunication Union (ITU):

To go from elephants in the bush near Nata to Geneva,
Switzerland is a big leap. The Peace Corps Volunteers involved with the
three winning projects in the Peace Corps ICT contest have been given a
scholarship to attend the Global Forum on Youth and ICT for Development
in Geveva, Switzerland. Special thanks to Mr. Paul Jhin, Director of
Special Inititatives at Peace Corps Headquarters in Washington, D.C. as
he is responsible for securing the scholarships from the United Nations
on behalf of the volunteers who will be presenting their projects at
the International Conference Center in Geneva. The conference begins on
September 24th and the volunteers will present on the 26th. This is an
excellent opportunity to share the strengths and needs of Nata village
at an international setting. The opportunity presented itself on a VERY
short notice. It is amazing at which the speed of Peace Corps and the
United Nations Development Program arranged for the tickets for us to
travel to Geneva. Plenty of photos will be taken so we can share the
experience with all of you. A heartfelt congratulations to Jon
Rawlinson and Seloma Tiro who are partners in this project. Way to go
guys!! By the way, Jon compiled the previous post so it's apparent who
the real technical expert is. Jon, thanks for being our technical guru.
We hope this opportunity brings more resources to Nata village. This
post is being sent from Jo-Berg, South Africa as I patiently wait my 5
hour layover.

Mr. Delany [from Google] is pictured above showing a
part of the Nata video, a village of hope. It's a little hard to see
but on the screen is the Nata river. You will never know what pride I
felt as I saw our tiny village getting a voice in this arena. Mr.
Delany continued to encourage users to use all the technology available
to them.

What a great experience it was to represent Nata village
in Geneva, Switzerland. We hope the experience will bring more
attention to the website and more help to the people of Nata. There
were many people from different African countries at our seminar and we
hope that additional villages will start their own websites and help
more people in remote areas. It's just such a contrast to go from
Geneva to Nata. The woman pictured above is eeking out a living selling
bananas for 20 cents at the Francistown bus rank. A cup of coffee in
Geneva is equal to a days wage for many people in Nata. So, it's back
to work for all of us here.

Donations from supporters are used to help people with HIV, orphans,
the village clinic, Mabogo Arts and Culture Productions, etc.
Currently, they sponsored an essay contest:

With your donations we are currently sponsoring and
essay contest for grades 6 and 7 at Nata primary school. The essay
topic is: How HIV/AIDS has affected or could affect my life. We will
pay $60 for 1st place, $36 for 2nd place, $18 for 3rd place, $9 for 4th
place and $5 for 5th place. Certificates will be given to those coming
in 6th through 10th place. This is alot of money for a child to win so
we hope this encourages them to think about the topic and do their best
to avoid contracting the virus. We have nearly 100 essays to read and
we will announce the winners at the Standard 7 farewell party at the
end of this month. We will post the winning essay with the students
photo on this website so you can read how the young people of Nata are
thinking about this disease. We try to think of ways to make YOUR
donations have the greatest impact. For $127 we have mobilized an
entire school to focus on the issue of HIV/AIDS and in the process have
rewarded students for their academic efforts. Thanks to all of our
donors!! By the way, it took four days to post this!! We really miss
high speed internet and a decent server.

The resulting Nata Village Blog is a moving effort, with
photographs, stories, and amazing videoblog entries. The blog documents
both the challenges and the successes of the residents, clinic workers,
and educators facing the HIV/AIDS pandemic…Please, just go visit the
blog. It offers its authors and its readers alike a chance to do
something profound.

Woo hoo! After what seemed like an endless wait, we
finally have internet access at Nata Clinic. Pictured above is Nurse
Midwife Charity (from Zimbabwe) looking up something on the internet.
Officially only the Sr. Nurse, Doctor, and Pharmacist have log in
privileges but we hope that privilege will soon extend to other staff
members. We're told it's just a matter of registering at our
sub-ditrict. It's such a great way for staff to update themselves on
medical conditions and treatments. Key personnel are now able to email
reports and requests to our sub-district which is 120 miles away in
Tutume.